So Close
by ShadowBYeBYe
Summary: When almost gets too close. Contest Story


**For Cybra's contest over on the Providence Playground. I hope ya'll enjoy this. ****I love con-crit. I love reviews and feedback. As as long as it isn't just a 'YOUR WRITING SUCKS RAWR' without an explanation as to why, I'll appreciate it. ^_^**

Holiday looked at her water. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her frazzled nerves. It didn't work. Her eyes concentrated on her slight reflection in the small Styrofoam cup, as if it were going to tell her everything was alright. Looking away from the false oracle, she shifted her gaze to the large screen.

It had been three hours since they had lost communication with Rex and Six. They were in the middle of the wilderness on the west seaboard and there hadn't been a sign of them since. The jump jets and ground troops were dragging the entire state looking for them. She walked over and looked down at one of the technicians.

"Any spikes?" She asked; keeping as much professionalism in her voice as she possibly could. It was hard to ignore the emotions that were screaming through her body, but her job required it. She refrained from cringing as the tech shook his head slowly.

Not only had they lost communication and visual contact with the two but Rex's biometrics bottomed out and then…nothing. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to hijack a jump jet and go look for them herself.

The grunts couldn't possible care about those two as much as she did.

Holiday frowned into a headache and shook her head slightly. That wasn't fair. The grunts, technicians and all of the other employees at Providence depended on and respected Agent Six and Rex. Either of them had probably saved most of the personnel's lives many times.

Her stomach knotted. There was an entire base, not to mention a world that depended on those two. Rex was the cure. He was the potential trigger to tip the war into their favor. Six was Rex's keeper and one of the front runners in creating the 'Contain' section of their credo.

She needed something. Anything just a hint, a taste, that they were alive. The 'alright' part would come later. If they were alive, she could make them alright.

It seemed that the universe decided to humor her for once. The entire screen lit up with the red dots that signaled the position of their tagged troops. Holiday looked instinctively to the biometrics meter- but there was nothing.

"What's going on?" She asked putting her hand on the technicians shoulder and leaning in to get a better look.

"Our trackers are back up." He said, a smile evident in his voice though not visible through his mask.

"Rex and Agent Six?" She asked. The tech nodded and brushed her hand off of his shoulder.

"Give me five minutes and I can tell you where they are." Holiday fought the urge to bite her lip as she watched the man's fingers dance over the console. She winced when he cussed, before quickly apologizing. The hope that filled her shrunk immensely as she watched the tech shake his head, curses rattling in whispers from his chest.

"I can't get a read on their coms." He said. Holiday started to tell him to keep trying, but it was obvious that she would have wasted her breath. She took a deep breath and turned around walking back over to the large window. The cup of water almost jumped from her hand as feedback screamed into her ear piece. With panic shaking her hand she quickly dialed the frequency down. Static and white noise filled her head and the slight sound of a voice trying to break through caught her attention. Through the chaos of the room and the static she couldn't identify the voice or make out what they were attempting to say.

"Be quiet! Be quiet!" She shouted, cupping her hand over her ear. Holiday held her breath as the voice came again through the static. She almost screamed in relief as the Captain's voice broke through.

"We have them….. returning to base….. ETA fifteen minutes." It was all that she could make out but it was enough. The tinge of fear still road her as she relayed the information. The entire base was chaos as they prepared for their return. All personnel were on edge as they prepped the medical bays and … the chaplain. Holiday sent up a prayer, something she hadn't done in years, in desperation. She didn't know how they were coming back. She didn't know what condition they would be in.

Those fifteen minutes seemed to pass like seconds as she rushed down to the hanger. She watched as the jet landed and her heart panged. The jet was almost destroyed; it was a wonder it was able to fly. She took a few deep breaths, attempting to retain that professional composure.

The doors to the jump jet opened and it seemed like time froze. Holiday's hands clenched leaving imprints of her nails in her palm. Then Rex walked out. His clothes were torn and his face was bloody, but the wounds had healed. His eyes met the doctor's and it wasn't but a split second that their bodies collided. She wrapped her arms around him her eyes clamped shut. Holiday pulled back her hands going to his face to look him over.

"Are you alright?" She asked seeing the fear in his eyes. Rex looked at the ground and forced a smile, his hands coming up to pull hers away. He nodded, seemingly unable to put into words just exactly what was going through his mind. He turned, his face dropping as he looked at the jet. Holiday's eyes followed his and her face blanched. She tried to pull her eyes away but she couldn't. The Captain was helping some of the grunts to carry out the stretcher that held Six. Before she could get a good look and see him past the blood the medic crew hauled him off.

Holiday turned looking at Rex, thankful he was alive but scared to death about what they had gone through. She grabbed Rex again and hugged him. Rex buried his head in her neck. Holiday almost broke down as she felt Rex lurch against her in a sob. Her hand went up to his head as she forced back her own tears. Her eyes caught the jump jet as they started carrying out body bags. She clamped her eyes shut after the eighth bag. Rex pulled back away from her and shook his head.

"They had explosives…" He said. He shook his head. "I couldn't save them." Holiday shook her head and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her.

"You did what you could." She said firmly. Rex looked past her, then back.

"I want to go check on Six…." He said. Holiday nodded. They hurried down the corridor, following the drips of blood. Rex refused to look at them. Holiday kept glancing at him. It was extremely apparent that the boy was bothered. To him, the doctor knew, that Six was a mentor- a father figure- and someone who couldn't be hurt. To see the blood of someone that meant so much, it didn't serve the stomach well in any case.

They stopped at the medical bay that some of the nurses pointed them too. There were nurses and doctors surrounding the bed and neither Rex or Holiday were allowed close enough to see the extent of the damage. Holiday looked at Rex and shook her head. The boy's face was pale. He didn't need to see even what he could see. She took his arm in her hand and pulled him out of the room. She watched as Rex paced in the hallway.

"We need to check you out too." She said after watching him long enough to make herself dizzy. Rex looked over at her and shook his head.

"No. Someone needs to be here." Holiday looked at him and shook her head.

"You're biometrics are acting up, you need to be looked over." She said firmly. Rex looked at her, his eyes dropping in defeat. He nodded.

"Fine, but will you stay here? We have lots of techs to look over me," He looked back at the door. "We only have one Six." Holiday nodded through the lump in her throat. She watched Rex walk away and her eyes burned. She looked up at the florescent lights forcing the tears back. She looked at the doors, staring at those cold metal doors for what seemed like hours. In actuality only twenty minutes passed before, the nurses left the room- the doctor walking over to Dr. Holiday.

"You can go in now." He said with a slight nod. Holiday felt her stomach clench and the hesitation in her steps were obvious. She turned and looked at the attending doctor.

"What happened?"

"Apparently, when one of the explosives went off a fragment of debris sliced his abdominal wall. There was some internal bleeding consistent with the injury. We have him stabilized. He's alert and in a lot of pain, but you can go in if you would like." Holiday nodded watching the doctor walk off. She took a deep breath. Then another. After battling the hesitation she finally pushed the door open. Forcing herself to walk through the sludge of vacillation was near painful as each step took years longer than it should have.

He was leaning back, seemingly asleep- a row of sutures splitting the side of his face from his ear almost to his eye. His abdomen was wrapped in the necessary gauze. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and walked over. She stood beside the bed for just a moment, looking at him. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Doctor." He said through a strained and raspy voice. Holiday smiled at him weakly, knowing the amount of pain he had to be in was excruciating. Due to his history and his own orders, he was never given any pain killers. She didn't know what to say. What could she say? Asking him if he was alright would be stupid.  
>Telling him that everything would be okay would be wasting her breath. She closed her eyes and shook her head fighting back the tears. She opened her eyes and looked at him.<p>

Six was watching her carefully. She didn't know what he was thinking, even without the hindrance of his shades. She didn't trust her voice even if she could find something to say. She brought her hand up and laid it on his arm and looked at him. Six closed his eyes for a moment before turning his head to look back at her- a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

"It's good to see you, Dr. Holiday." She wanted to cuss at him as the tears finally broke through that professional barrier. Her head dropped in shame as the tears streamed down her cheek. She blinked as she felt his calloused hand touch her face, his thumb wiping away the tear, before he settled back down on the pillow. He closed his eyes and shook his head a bit.

"None of that." He said. Holiday almost choked on the force of the sob that tried to escape her. She wiped her face and looked at the ceiling. After a few deep breaths, she nodded glad that she had gotten that out of her system. She pulled over a chair and watched as he laid there. She sat down in the chair and put her hand on his arm once again- causing him to open his eyes and look at her.

"Good to see you, too, Agent Six." Six closed his eyes and smiled. He moved his free hand over picking her hand up from his arm. He moved it and placed it on his chest.

"I know."

**Review please!**


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